In the early evening of the 25th, we gathered together to celebrate Burns Night! Lots of fun was had through live music, poetry and quizzes. It was a taster event which meant we had our regular clients and volunteers as well as some attending for their first time. It was fantastic to have students attending from the Royal Conservatoire who performed all through the event. 

One of our volunteers’ son plays the bagpipe and had kindly sent us a clip of him performing as part of an ensemble which we played as people were joining the event. It was great to see people get into the spirit of the evening straight away. 

Once everyone had arrived, Anna Reid kicked off the evening by singing “My Love is like a Red Red Rose”, which got everyone in a brilliant mood - and some even sang along! Then, the zoom call split into breakout rooms, where we discussed what else we do to celebrate Burns Night, if we had ever been to a large Burns Supper, and the ever-important opinion on haggis! One client spoke about how she used to attend Burns Suppers with her husband while others don’t even eat haggis on the 25th!

After this, the group rejoined, and Margaret Bennett told us a story of how Burns ended up composing his first poem. Then, Margaret did a live performance for us, which was a real treat. 

Next, Mathias hosted a wonderful (if rather tricky) Burns-themed quiz. It turns out that not many of us knew about Burns Cottage, the replica of Robert Burns’ birthplace in Atlanta, USA. We all finished learning something new!

Following that, another singer - Brodie Crawford - did a delightful performance of “Ae fond kiss”, Burns’ most famous love song.

Finally, when we had a little extra time at the end of the event, one of our clients asked if anyone knew “To A Mouse”, which Margaret read to us all, followed by Anna reciting a poem she learnt in her childhood.

Overall it was a brilliant event that paid a fitting tribute to Scotland’s national poet.

This blog was kindly written by one of our volunteers, Chloe Pimblett. If you are interested in writing a blog for No.1 please get in touch with connie@befriend.org.uk